Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius

Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius, also known as Palladius Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus or most often just as Palladius, was an ancient writer who wrote in Latin, and is dated variously to the latter 4th century or first half of the 5th century AD.[1] He is principally known for his book on agriculture, Opus agriculturae, sometimes known as De re rustica.

Contents

Biography

Since the Middle Ages, authors of agricultural treatises have referred often to Palladius. The Palladii were a prominent Gallic family, and the name Palladius is probably a family name (of Greek origin), with Aemilianus his cognomen (of Roman origin). In Late Antiquity, the convention of the tria nomina ("three names") for Roman men was no longer standard, and the greater variation in naming practice contributes to the uncertainty over the correct order of his names.[2] Evidence for his life is scant. Manuscripts of his work call him a vir inlustris. Although Palladius relies heavily on earlier agricultural writers, mainly Columella and Gargilius Martialis, he also seems to have some first-hand knowledge of farming in Italy and Sardinia as well as experience as a landowner.[3]

Opus agriculturae

The Opus agriculturae is a treatise on farming in 14 parts or books, written in the late fourth or early fifth century AD.[4] The first book is general and introductory. Books 2 to 13 give detailed instructions for the typical activities on a Roman farm for each month of the year, starting with January. The fourteenth book, De Veterinaria Medicina, was rediscovered only in the 20th century, and gives instructions for the care of animals and elements of veterinary science.[4] Most of the work is in prose, but the final part, formerly considered to be book 14, De Insitione, on Grafting, consists of eighty-five couplets of elegiac verse.[5]

Water-mills

The book is known for reference to a water-mill in Book 1, ch. 41, where Palladius suggests that waste water from an aqueduct should be used to drive a mill. Such mills had been described by Vitruvius in 25 BC, and there is a growing number of examples of such Roman water-mills. The most spectacular is the set of 16 mills at Barbegal in southern France, using water fed by a stone aqueduct along the line of the same aqueduct which supplied nearby Arles.

Principal early editions

The earliest editions of Palladius group his works with those on agriculture of Cato the Elder, Varro and Columella. Some modern library catalogues follow Brunet in listing these under "Rei rusticae scriptores" or "Scriptores rei rusticae".[9]